Hayward....

[The Indomitable DrugS]

should have been at the line with a foul shot to complete a 3 point play after an obvious bucket and foul - but was instead called with a charge.

Considering I saw that in the 52 seconds worth of game I watched ... and considering how the game ended ... I've concluded that Butler was robbed by the refs.

Would the other 39+ mintues of game support this conclusion?

[Cannon Shell]

Butler missed 11 layups. They had the ball down 1 with the chance to win it. They shot 34%. They took more FT's than Duke did. They had their opportunity.

I really like Stevens as a coach. Outside of the obvious things, he gets the other teams to play the way Butler wants to play. Even Duke got lured into the trap. But the truth is that if Butler could shoot just a little bit, they would have won the national championship. And his players will all be selling insurance in a few years but Stevens looks like a star to me.

[ateamstupid]

The Quincy Acy charge call in the Baylor/Duke game was worse and had more of an impact on the result, but this one was iffy as well.

Another issue was when Zoubek was fouled towards the end, it appeared that a full second ran off the clock after the whistle, yet no one bothered to check the monitors.

To me, the Baylor game was more one-sided by the refs, but Butler sure as hell didn't get many breaks tonight either. It's a shame that the refs still favor the high major teams in these games, but it was still a terrific final.